Decorative plaque



April 28, 1953 J. I.. WILMSEN' 2,636,301

DECORATIVE PLAQUE Filed Deo. 16, 1950 INVENToR. JOSEPH L.WILMESEN ?atented Apr. 28, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DECORATIVE PLAQUE Joseph L. Wilmsen, Rushland, Pa.

Application December 16, 1950, Serial No. 201,187

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a decorative plaque oi the type which includes a transparent or translucent body through which a given design may be viewed.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved plaque of this type.

It has been the practice heretofore to etch, mould or otherwise form or emboss a design in one side or face of.a transparent object and to proceed to paint or otherwise apply the design to the ground, moulded or embossed surface. A plaque thus produced will necessarily be expensive and such plaques did not always produce a three dimensional effect to the design being viewed.

1t is therefore a further object of this invention to produce a plaque which will give a very attractive three dimensional view and one which can be produced extremely inexpensively.

These and other objects are attained by my invention as shown in the accompanying drawings and as described in the following specification.

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a decorative plaque embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view looking in the direction oi line 2 2 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational View of the design bearing part, or the upper part as viewed in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the transparent or translucent body member, or the lower part as viewed in Fig. 3.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the decorative plaque of my invention includes two parts, the design bearing part shown in Fig. 4 and the transparent or translucent body shown in Fig. 5 which are assembled as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 to produce the composite plaque of Fig. 1.

The transparent body B of Fig. 5 is made of glass or of a plastic such as methyl methacrylate, or the like, there being a number of such materials available on the market and possessing the desired degree of transparency or translucency, as the case may be. The design bearing body BI is made of a thin, flexible, form-retaining material such as paper, tin foil or the like.

To produce the plaque of my invention, a body B is selected as to color, transparency etc., is cut to the desired size and on its back surface, or the surface remote from the person viewing it, any desired design such as that of a horse is produced in intaglio. In other words, and as can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, the design is all below a line passing through the upper surface S as viewed in Figs. 2 and 3. The body B can be cut and molded in a single operation by a moderately heated die, or it can be molded glass, these being the methods most conducive to efciency and mass production. By means of a similar die, the body Bl is cut, formed and printed with the desired colors. In other words, the back body Bi and the front or viewing body B can, once the proper dies have been made, be produced most inexpensively.

To assemble the plaque, it is merely necessary to lay the body Bl against the back of body B so that the relief design on the body Bl will seat in the intaglio design in the surface of body B.

The assembled plaque will then appear as shown in Fig. 1 and when the relief design on backing body Bl is viewed through the lens-like body B the face of which is smooth, an emphatic three dimensional effect is produced. In the case illustrated, the horse acquires the appearance of reality.

The backing body B may be suitably secured, in a permanent or in a detachable manner to the body B and when the design bearing side of backing body Bl is smoothly and intimately united with the intaglio relief on body B, it will give a very clear view and will last for a long time.

It will be seen that by my invention the labor and skill needed in engraving the design or in lgrinding in the design is eliminated. Also, the

labor of painting the design on the molded or embossed side of the body B is altogether eliminated.

What I claim is:

1. A decorative plaque comprising a molded substantially transparent body having an intaglio design molded into one face thereof, the opposite side of said body being smooth, and a design bearing body having a relief design on one face thereof corresponding to, and engaging the said intaglio design.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 in which the rst mentioned body is relatively thick and rigid and the design bearing body is relatively thin and flexible.

JOSEPH L. WILMSEN.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,065,406 Silverman 1 Dec. 22, 1936 2,477,300 Karfiol et al. July 26, 1949 2,523,234 Rado Sept. 19, 1950 

